Trump reportedly slammed German carmakers and threatened to stop their sales in the US

U.S. President Donald Trump walking with the President of the European Council Donald Tusk after a meeting in Brussels

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Thomson Reuters

President Donald Trump threatened to stop German car sales in the US during a meeting with European officials in Brussels on Thursday, German publication Der Spiegel first reported.

Trump said he would stop German automakers from selling “millions of cars” in the US, Spiegel reported, calling Germans “very bad.”

Spiegel reports that it learned of Trump’s comments from participants in the meeting.

Trump threatened to impose a hefty import tax of 35% on German cars coming into the US in January, Reuters reported at the time.

BMW has a manufacturing facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina where it builds its X3, X4, X5 and X6. Roughly 65% of the cars produced at BMW’s South Carolina facility are exported overseas, according to the Reuters report.

Volkswagen has a facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee and Mercedes-Benz has one in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Correction: Trump was reportedly referring to all German automakers, not just BMW.